Our firm opposition does not stem from a lack of appreciation for President Reagan's achievements or a lack of sympathy for President Reagan and his family as they struggle with his illness.

The hallmark of the Reagan aviation policy was the unjust and unnecessary firing of the air traffic controllers in 1981. This action threw 11,000 of our nation's most dedicated, talented aviation safety professionals into unemployment. President Reagan's policies inflicted the extra punishment of forbidding controllers to reapply for their jobs, a penalty that lasted for his entire presidency and beyond. And, President Reagan's policies created a shortage of skilled controllers that compromised America's aviation safety for years.

President Reagan has already been honored by the naming of the new Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center at the Federal Triangle, a federal courthouse in California, and the newest Nimitz class aircraft carrier in the Navy's fleet. These are far more appropriate tributes to his legacy.

--John Sweeney, AFL-CIO President,

February 4, 1998, commenting on legislation to rename National Airport.